


Tempting Fate

by ellipsometry



Series: ✧SASO 2017✧ [16]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Cat/Human Hybrids, F/M, KINDA.... WHO KNOWS WHATS HAPPENING HERE, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-28
Updated: 2017-07-28
Packaged: 2018-12-07 23:07:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11633850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellipsometry/pseuds/ellipsometry
Summary: “What, did a witch curse you or something?” Daishou deadpans.He’s joking, which is why he doesn’t really expect it when Kuroo says, “Yeah, I think so.”In which Mika breaks a curse, Kuroo has cat ears, and Daishou is suffering.





	Tempting Fate

**Author's Note:**

> [written for SASO bonus round 5!](https://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/24808.html?thread=14820584#cmt14820584)

“Can you stop that already?”

It’s not the first time Daishou has had to scold Mika for lingering in the alley outside the restaurant where they both work. She’s even been spending most of her break time out there of late, hand outstretched and fingers waggling trying to attract the attention of the restaurant’s newest and most unsolicited customer: a stray cat with sleek black fur and a long, fluffy tail.

The cat appeared about a week ago, and looks too well-groomed to be a real alley cat. But he’s ignored Mika’s attentions thus far, and today is no different. He glances over, but eventually chooses to rummage around in the leftover scraps from that day’s lunch rush, spilling out of the trash bins after being dumped there by one of the part-timers. Daishou couldn’t care less about the whole thing even if he tried, but Mika is becoming increasingly frustrated.

“It’s a matter of principle!” she says, swatting Daishou’s hand away when he goes to grab her arm and drag her away, “I’m the kind of person that animals should like!”

Daishou’s mouth drops open, “... Hah?”

“You know!” she says, face going pink from more than just the cold weather, “I’m a nice person, so animals should like me! Even that stupid snake you had in high school liked me!”

_First of all, my snake was not stupid,_ is what Daishou wants to say, but he swallows his rebuttal as Mika scuttles further into the alleyway, reaching into the pocket of her coat and pulling something out.

“What are you doing now?” Daishou is exasperated. But not quite exasperated enough to not be enamoured with the cute, excited look Mika gets on her face when she turns back to him, a hand full of round, brown pellets.

“Cat treats! I got Kuguri-kun to give me some, he has a cat a home. Let’s see this little guy try and ignore me _now_!”

“I’m sure he’ll manage it,” Daishou mumbles, leaning against the brick wall of the alley and checking the time on his phone. It’s been dark out for a while; they had closed the restaurant that night and closed up. The last bus to their station is leaving soon, and anyway Daishou isn’t eager to be waiting around in the cold. Besides, it might snow tomorrow night, which means they have to stock up on food before--

“Suguru, look!”

Mika is gesturing wildly with one hand, the other outstretched and full of cat treats, which the stray cat is eagerly gobbling up. She points at the cat again, as if to say _look, I did it!_ , and Daishou can’t help but smile, exhaling through his nose. It’s probably a good thing no one is around to see how soft he can get around his girlfriend.

“You were just hungry, huh?” Mika says, stroking the cat’s fur, scratching under his chin. She sounds triumphant more than anything, and it’s probably just hubris that drives her to tentatively reach around the cat’s middle with both hands, and hoist him up into her arms. To Daishou’s surprise, the stray cat goes willingly, even nuzzling at Mika’s chest with his forehead as she holds him like one would a baby.

“ _Suguru!_ ” Mika repeats, voice a stage whisper as to not disturb the cat, “I told you, animals like me!”

“Yeah, you’re a Disney princess, we all agree,” Daishou laughs, walking toward Mika and patting the top of her head fondly, “Now can we go home?”

“Alright, alright,” Mika laughs, “Goodbye kitty, I’ll leave you alone now.”

What happens next happens all at once: Mika presses a small, affectionate kiss to the cat’s forehead, and a flash as bright and as loud as a fireworks display goes off, casting red, yellow, blue light across damp pavement, still wet from that afternoon’s rain. The sound causes Daishou’s ears to pop, and he reaches out for Mika, blinking rapidly as yellow embers dance in front of his eyes, a faint smell of smoke in his lungs.

And when it’s all over, Mika is sat in the middle of the alley, looking no worse for the wear, legs askew and lap occupied by a tall, gangly man with unruly black hair and a long, familiar tail curling behind him.

A man who is very, very naked, at that.

The man blinks, stares at his hands for a second, then looks at Mika curiously. 

“Thanks for that,” he says, grin slicing across his face. 

Daishou gets the feeling it’s going to be a very, _very_ long night.

+

As cats are prone to do, the man follows Daishou and Mika as they hurry away from the alley toward the bus stop. Mika rushes ahead, muttering curses under her breath, face beet red, while Daishou is left to deal with the unpleasant stranger.

“Can you-- just--” he shrugs off his top coat and shoves it at the man, “Can you cover yourself at least?!”

“If you insist,” the man says, buttoning the jacket. He still looks ridiculous, but at least his unmentionables are hidden. Upon further inspection, Daishou realizes the man has not only a tail, but furry cat ears to match, black and pink and mostly hidden in his messy hair. He also has human ears, which Daishou thinks is weird, but it’s no stranger than the fact that, until about ten minutes ago, this man was an actual cat, eating treats out of his girlfriend’s hand.

But even with the both of them shooing him away, the cat-turned-man follows them. Down the street, onto the bus (where he convinces an innocent bystander to pay his fare), and up the hill toward their apartment. And finally, when Daishou slams the apartment door in his face, the man plants himself outside their window, meowing and howling with the kind of expertise only a person who has literally been a cat before can summon.

Only then, with Mika snapping at him to _just let him inside already!_ does Daishou finally open the door and usher the strange man inside.

“Don’t make yourself at home,” he says, warningly.

The man grins again, eyes eagerly sweeping around the room, “Don’t worry, I will.”

 

The man’s name is Kuroo Tetsurou. Or, at least, that’s the name he gives Daishou once they let him take a shower and put on some spare clothes. Mika’s embarrassment finally loses out to her overly hospitable nature, and she makes three mugs of tea, giving Kuroo his with a wary eye.

“Why shouldn’t we call the cops?” Daishou wonders aloud.

“You did literally just let me into your house of your own volition,” Kuroo says, taking a long sip of his tea to punctuate his point, “Plus I don’t know if the cops will believe _this._ ” He gestures to his ears and then swipes his tail across Daishou’s thigh, and Daishou chokes on his tea.

“That’s true,” Mika sighs, turning to Kuroo, “It’s not like I actually would have left you to freeze in the middle of a creepy alley. I was just… startled. To say the least.”

Daishou snorts, “I would have left you to freeze.”

“This is why I like Mika-chan best,” Kuroo wipes a mock tear from his eye, resting his hand on top of Mika’s where it lies on top of the kotatsu.

“I don’t give a shit if you like me,” Daishou grumbles, “And don’t go throwing around her name like that, all casual!”

“Watch it,” Mika says warningly, kicking Daishou’s shin under the table, “Kuroo-kun, why don’t you tell us about, um…”

Kuroo’s ears perk up -- his cat ears, that is, “How I became a cat?”

“Ah, yes. That.”

If Kuroo is to believed -- which, if you ask Daishou, he should _not_ be -- he has no memories of his life before was a cat, or if he even did have a life before that. He has only a few concrete memories: he knows his own name, he knows he used to live in the area, and he remembers an old woman speaking to him.

“I was definitely a human before I was a cat,” Kuroo decides, basing his evidence on the fact that he could understand Japanese even as a cat, and that he had no taste for regular cat food, gravitating toward the restaurant scraps instead.

“What, did a witch curse you or something?” Daishou deadpans.

He’s joking, which is why he doesn’t really expect it when Kuroo says, “Yeah, I think so.”

A pause, then Mika laughs awkwardly, “What does it mean that you turned back into a human when I kissed your forehead?”

Daishou narrow his eyes at Kuroo, who puts his hands up warningly, “Hey, look, I’m not saying ‘true love broke the curse’ or anything corny like that but… I’m just happy to not be walking on four legs anymore.”

“Good, because she’s taken,” Daishou says quickly, huddling up into Kuroo’s space.

“I know that!” Kuroo rolls his eyes, but his tone is a bit disappointed.

“Interesting…”

Mika is stroking her chin thoughtfully, and Daishou turns to her in horror, “Don’t tell me you actually _believe_ him?!”

“I don’t know, I don’t know! It’s interesting, though, isn’t it?” she cocks her head to the side, observing at Kuroo with curious eyes, “He is like a cat, no matter how you look at it, right?” Kuroo’s cat ears twitch, as if to underline her point. It’s strange and surreal to see it, to see the way his tail flicks mindlessly behind his back, to see how utterly odd it looks in the normal, everyday setting of their apartment.

Finally, Mika looks back over at Daishou, with a resigned sigh that might as well as well be the nail in the coffin for ordinary life as Daishou has known it.

“Why don’t we keep him?”

+

It’s with great reluctance that Daishou retrieves the spare futon from the hall closet that night, rolling it out in the living room for Kuroo, scowling all the while. _This is just for tonight,_ Daishou insists, knowing full well that Mika will never let him kick Kuroo out without making sure he has a place to go.

But aren’t cats supposed to always land on their feet?

Mika puts in a good word at the restaurant and gets Kuroo some part-time work as a busboy. It’s simple enough to hide his tail by tucking it under a loose-fitting shirt or down his pant leg. Hiding the ears turns out to be a more onerous task.

They spend an entire night in the bathroom, Daishou finicking with Kuroo’s hair while Mika laughs, taking video with her phone.

“He does know a thing or two about hair care, huh?” Kuroo says, cocking an eyebrow at Daishou’s hair, each strand slicked into its exact place.

“Shut up,” Daishou mumbles, at the same time that Mika says, “It’s cute right?”

“It’s kinda cute,” Kuroo agrees, and his cat ears twitch a bit as he laughs.

Daishou manages the miracle of hiding Kuroo’s cat ears by pinning the folds of the ears down with some barrettes, and fluffing Kuroo’s already wild hair until the black fur can’t even be distinguished from his normal hair.

They settle into a tentative routine. Or, rather, Kuroo bursts into Mika and Daishou’s already-established routine, making a home in their lives, scratching up all the furniture.

“How are two people who work in a restaurant this bad at cooking?” Kuroo wonders aloud one night.

Mika goes red in the face, “I’m a pastry chef, I don’t do dinners! Look at Suguru, not me.”

“I’m just the waiter,” Daishou points out, “No food preparation involved.”

Kuroo, as it turns out, is a fairly competent cook. Where those skills manifested is a mystery to all three of them, considering that until a week or so ago he didn’t have opposable thumbs to speak of. Mika compliments him, and turns to Daishou expectantly, raising her eyebrows like she expects him to say something nice.

“I guess it’s true about cats liking fish,” is all Daishou can manage, popping another forkful of salmon into his mouth. (Kuroo pretends not to be mad, but he gives Daishou a significantly smaller dinner portion the next night.)

Kuroo’s lingering cat features are sometimes forgettable. Sometimes Kuroo will brush his tail like a normal person would brush their hair, and every morning Daishou has to sleepily style Kuroo’s hair to hide his ears, but otherwise they don’t really think about it. It becomes just another weird fact about Kuroo, something Daishou files away in his brain alongside Kuroo’s love of boring documentaries and his obnoxious hyena cackle of a laugh and the way he sleeps on the bus home with his arms folded firmly across his chest.

That’s how Kuroo falls asleep one night after being promoted to prep cook. Mika beams with happiness when he tells her, and she’s still smiling as she falls asleep too, head leaning against Kuroo’s shoulder, chest heaving softly.

It should make him feel strange, watching his girlfriend fall asleep on the shoulder of some other man, but the tug on Daishou’s heartstrings is something altogether different from jealousy. He barely has time to think before he’s pulling out his phone and snapping a picture of them, faces serene with sleep. It’s the first time Daishou’s noticed just how long Kuroo’s eyelashes are, and he wonders if it’s another holdover feline trait.

“It’ll be nice to have someone new in the kitchen with me,” Mika mumbles, and Daishou startles, hiding his phone in his lap.

“Uh, sure. Not like you don’t already have friends back there,” he says, tone clipped from embarrassment at being caught taking a picture.

But Mike just laughs softly, eyes still closed, and reaches over to grab Daishou’s hand, lacing their fingers together, “Don’t be jealous, Suguru. Even if it’s cute when you are.”

“Stupid,” Daishou mutters, squeezing Mika’s hand, “Who’s jealous?”

Sleep tempts Daishou, but he blinks himself awake. Someone has to make sure they don’t miss their stop, after all.

+

Mika is fond of champagne. Not necessarily the taste, but the look of it, sparkling and golden in a delicate glass flute. Daishou has long known that Mika can be, well, _particular_ when it comes to aesthetics, in that she likes everything to be just so. Whether it’s a habit from working with delicate, intricate pastries that bled into her personal life or vice verse, Daishou has come to regard it fondly, as just another reason why he loves her so much. At the very least, it’s amusing to watch her, on a night in debating different nail polish colors, or testing lipsticks on the inside of her arm, tongue poking out between her teeth.

In any case, Daishou knows Mika well enough to know that champagne is completely mandatory for any kind of celebration, and so he buys a couple bottles of prosecco and some beer on the way home from a closing shift. Mika and Kuroo are already at home, having had the day off.

Kuroo’s been living with them for a month. Which, apparently, warrants celebration.

“When are you going to get your own place and leave us alone?” Daishou asks, tone as dry as the champagne he’s already popped. Mika’s laugh, meanwhile, is as light and airy as the bubble frothing in their glasses.

“I like it,” she says, and Daishou can’t tell whether she’s talking about the drink or about Kuroo living with them or both.

They order in some food and play a drinking game that Kuroo and Daishou end up taking far too seriously, both of them too competitive for their own good. Mika diffuses the tension as always, bringing out a handmade chocolate roll cake from the fridge for dessert.

By midnight they’re well and truly drunk, and Daishou in particular is just drunk enough to reach out and grab the end of Kuroo’s tail, which is flicking lazily against the carpet.

“This is… fucking weird,” he announces, petting the soft fur with the pad of his thumb.

Kuroo laughs, kicking at Daishou, to no avail, “Shut up! I didn’t ask to be a cat!”

“Hey, Tetsurou…” Mika is lounging on her stomach, bottom half under the warmth of the kotatsu. Daishou startles a bit hearing her call Kuroo by his given name, but Kuroo looks unfazed. Daishou wonders, before he can think better of it, if the two of them have become closer than even he realized.

“What’s up, Mika-chan?” Kuroo sits up a bit, where he’s lounging against the futon.

“What you said, back when we met,” her words are slow, maybe due to the alcohol, maybe due to something else, “About me kissing you and that breaking the curse or whatever… if that’s true, why do you still have your tail and stuff? Shouldn’t you be a full human by now?”

“I’m a full human!” Kuroo protests, “You know I can’t even really hear from these,” he points to his cat ears, which are folded down against his scalp.

“That’s not the point, moron,” Daishou rolls his eyes, “You still have weird cat features, but shouldn’t they be gone if the curse is really broken?”

“Aw, are you worried?” Kuroo reaches out to pinch Daishou’s cheek, but just gets his hand swatted away (that, and the satisfaction of seeing Daishou’s face go red.)

Kuroo shrugs, “Look, I don’t know shit about why or how I ended up the way I am. I’m just grateful to be a human, and grateful to not be out on the street or sleeping on a bench somewhere,” he runs a hand down the front of his face, pausing for a moment, “You know, I owe you two. I don’t have my memories, which kind of hurts but… I guess I haven’t even been worried about that lately. It doesn’t even matter now, since I have you two.”

“Tetsurou…” Mika’s voice is wobbly, and she crawls out from under the kotatsu to kneel next to him, “We’re happy you’re here. Right, Suguru?”

“I was already going to say that,” Daishou says quickly, looking away to hide his face, “It’s fine. Even if you are a weirdo with a tail.”

Kuroo nods, sniffing, and they’re all polite enough not to comment on the tears threatening to spill from the corner of his eyes.

By the time they’re ready for bed, the futon is sticky with spilled alcohol and messy from their festive night in, so Mika insists that Kuroo sleep in the bedroom with them. To her surprise, Daishou doesn’t protest, just mumbles something under his breath before he goes to change into sleep clothes.

“I’m in the middle,” he announces when he returns, “To protect Mika-chan’s innocence.”

“Suguru…” Mika deadpans, rolling her eyes, “That’s wrong on so many levels.”

Kuroo looks pleased, in any case, to discover that Daishou is the little spoon. As soon as Daishou climbs into bed, Mika curls firmly around his back, arms wrapped around his middle, face smushed into the space between his shoulder blades. She kisses the nape of his neck and promptly falls asleep.

“That is adorable,” Kuroo says, lifting up the covers to crawl underneath, on the other side of Daishou.

“That’s enough from you,” Daishou whispers, as not to wake Mika.

“Hey, I was thinking,” Kuroo settles in, and Daishou thinks he’s a bit closer than he probably needs to be -- or is that just the alcohol distorting his vision?

“I was thinking,” Kuroo repeats, “Maybe Mika-chan’s true love kiss didn’t work on me because she’s already in love with someone else? Good hypothesis, or no?”

“Does that mean if we break up, your tail and ears will finally disappear?” Daishou whispers, “Because that won’t ever happen. We’re not breaking up.”

It’s not that he’s never thought about him and Mika breaking up. In fact, he probably thinks about it more than he should -- it’s a constant fear in the back of his head, ever-present even with the kindest words and reassurances from Mika. They had broken up once before, in high school, and he never wants that to happen again, never wants to feel how he did back then.

“I know that, and I’d never want you to, you know that,” Kuroo hisses, “I’m just tired of this fuckin’ thing. Having a tail is not as fun as you’d think.”

“Never had any reason to think it would be fun,” Daishou mumbles. His eyes are drooping closed, and he feels sleep a second away.

At least until, “Suguru. Hey.”

“What?” Daishou snaps, “Don’t call me that.”

“Sure, sure,” Kuroo grins, and when Daishou opens his eyes, his face is only a couple inches away. For some reason he hesitates to name, Daishou doesn’t jerk away or move; he just take in Kuroo’s face, soft from near-sleep, pupils round in the darkness.

“What about this,” Kuroo says, “What if Mika’s kiss _did_ work, but only halfway? And I’m supposed to get another kiss now to finish my transformation?”

The implication is clear, at least clear enough for Daishou. He hasn’t miss the way Kuroo looks at him on occasion, with a kind of affectionate, tender look in his eyes. It’s the same way Daishou looks at Mika, the same way they _both_ look at Mika, as of late. And the clearer the implication becomes in Daishou’s mind, the hazier the whole situation becomes.

“You don’t get two true love kisses,” Daishou says, finally, “You’re only supposed to get one.”

Kuroo smiles, soft and slow, “Sure. But I’m also not _supposed_ to have fuckin’ cat ears, am I?”

He has a point, Daishou admits. But that’s about all Daishou is prepared to admit, right now. Maybe later, when he isn’t still tipsy off too much champagne, or when he isn’t a bit hot under the collar from the feeling of Mika’s breath on his neck and Kuroo’s warmth radiating in front of him.

“Night, Daishou,” Kuroo says, when it becomes clear that Daishou is at a loss for words, and he doesn’t sound upset, just thoughtful, “Thanks for tonight.”

He closes his eyes and drifts off to sleep, snoring softly, but Daishou doesn’t fall asleep for another hour or so, eyes fixed firmly on the gentle curve of Kuroo’s mouth. His lips are a bit thin, a bit chapped, a bit unremarkable. And yet, captivating to Daishou, who realizes, suddenly and with a jump in his chest, that if he really wanted to, he could lean forward and kiss those lips without much fanfare at all, really.

But that would be crazy… wouldn’t it?

Daishou makes his decision, and then, finally, he falls asleep.

+

In the morning, Kuroo’s cat ears and tail have disappeared, and Daishou pretends not to know how it happened. 


End file.
